Composite bow

It is not known exactly when and where the composite bow originated. This culminated in the invention of the angular bow. The composite bow was spread to East Asia by the Indo-Iranian Andronovo culture as well as the Srubnaya culture. By the 4th century BCE, chariotry had ceased to have military importance, replaced by cavalry everywhere (except in Britannia, where charioteers are not recorded as using bows). The mounted archer became the archetypal warrior of the steppes and the composite bow was his primary weapon, used to protect the herds, in steppe warfare, and for incursions into settled lands. Classic tactics for horse-mounted archers included skirmishing: they would approach, shoot, and retreat before any effective response could be made. The term Parthian shot refers to the widespread horse-archer tactic of shooting backwards over the rear of their horses as they retreated. The extremely short length of the composite bow made this very convenient. Composite bows could be used without difficulty by infantry. The infantry archers of classical Greece and the Roman Empire used composite bows. The military of the Han dynasty (220 BCE–206 CE) utilized composite crossbows, often in infantry square formations, in their many engagements against the Xiongnu. Until 1571, archers with composite bows were a main component of the forces of the Ottoman Empire, but in the Battle of Lepanto in that year, they lost most of these troops and never replaced them. ==Construction and materials==

The wooden core gives the bow its shape and dimensional stability. It is often made of multiple pieces, joined with animal glue in V-splices, so the wood must accept glue well. Pieced construction allows the sharp bends that many designs require, and the use of woods with different mechanical properties for the bending and non-bending sections. The wood of the bending part of the limb ("dustar") must endure intense shearing stress, and denser woods such as hard maples are normally used in Turkish bows. Bamboo, and wood of the mulberry family, are traditional in China. Some composite bows have nonbending tips ("siyahs"), which need to be stiff and light; they may be made of woods such as Sitka spruce. A thin layer of horn is glued onto what will be the belly of the bow, the side facing the archer. Water buffalo horn is very suitable, as is horn of several antelopes such as gemsbok, oryx, ibex, and that of Hungarian grey cattle. Goat and sheep horn can also be used. Most forms of cow horn are not suitable, as they soon delaminate with use. The horn can store more energy than wood in compression. The sinew, soaked in animal glue, is then laid in layers on the back of the bow; the strands of sinew are oriented along the length of the bow. The sinew is normally obtained from the lower legs and back of wild deer or domestic ungulates. Traditionally, ox tendons are considered inferior to wild-game sinews since they have a higher fat content, leading to spoilage. Sinew has greater elastic tension properties than wood, again increasing the amount of energy that can be stored in the bow stave. Hide glue or gelatin made from fish gas bladders is used to attach layers of sinew to the back of the bow, and to attach the horn belly to the wooden core. Stiffening laths, if used, are attached. Both horn and laths may be bound and glued with further lengths of sinew. After months of drying, the bow is ready for use. Further finishing may include thin leather or waterproof bark, to protect the bow from moisture, and recent Turkish bows were often highly decorated with colourful paints and gold leaf. Strings and arrows are essential parts of the weapon system, but no type of either is specifically associated with composite bows throughout their history. ==Advantages and disadvantages of composite construction==

Advantages The main advantage of composite bows over self bows (made from a single piece of wood) is their combination of smaller size with high power. They are therefore more convenient than self bows when the archer is mobile, as from horseback, or from a chariot. Almost all composite bows are also recurve bows as the shape curves away from the archer; this design gives higher draw-weight in the early stages of the archer's draw, storing somewhat more total energy for a given final draw-weight. It would be possible to make a wooden bow that has the same shape, length, and draw-weight as a traditional composite bow, but it could not store the energy, and would break before full draw. The higher arrow velocity is only for well-designed composite bows of high draw-weight. At the weights more usual for modern amateurs, the greater density of horn and sinew compared with wood usually cancels any advantage. The civilizations of India used both self bows and composite bows. The Mughals were especially known for their composite bows due to their Turko-Mongol roots. Waterproofing and proper storage of composite bows were essential due to India's extremely wet and humid subtropical climate and plentiful rainfall today (which averages in most of the country, and exceeds well over per year in the wettest areas due to monsoons). The civilizations of China also used a combination of self bows, composite recurve bows, and laminated reflex bows. Self bows and laminated bows were preferred in southern China in earlier periods of history due to the region's extremely wet, humid, and rainy subtropical climate. The average rainfall in southern China exceeds , averaging in many areas today. ==Technical changes in classical times==

The details of bow construction changed somewhat with time. It is not clear that the various developments of the composite bow led to measurable improvements: "the development of archery equipment may not be a process involving progressive improvements in performance. Rather, each design type represents one solution to the problem of creating a mobile weapon system capable of hurling lightweight projectiles." In West Asia, composite bows of medium-length, with recurved, 'duck head' tips were common among the Elamite and Assyrian people during the Iron Age. Many depictions of such bows exist at the palace of King Darius in Susa, as well as the city of Persepolis. Variants of the Scythian bow were the dominant form in Asia until approximately the first century BCE. Western Scythian bows did not include horn; they were made of wood and sinew alone. It was originally hypothesized that the extremely recurved tips of the classic Scythian design were intended to be flexible, "working" tips, in order to add speed and increase the smoothness of the draw. However, archery expert Adam Karpowicz made a reconstruction of a Scythian-style bow, and found that the tips did not flex much at all. Bone stiffeners are found in association with nomads of the time. They are not found in Achaemenid Persia, in early Imperial Rome, or in Han China. Stiffeners likely appeared in Roman militaries around or before 9 CE. Composite bows were made even in the cold and damp of Britannia. They were the normal weapon of later Roman archers, both infantry and cavalry units (although Vegetius recommends training recruits "arcubus ligneis", with wooden bows). Bone (or antler) reinforcements for stiffening handles developed in Central Asia during the 3rd to 2nd century BCE, with earliest finds from the area of Lake Baikal. Fittings from this type of bow appear right across Asia from Korea to the Crimea. Such bows were often asymmetric, with lower limbs shorter than the upper. One of the oldest such bows ever discovered is known as the "Yrzi" bow from Dura Europos; it belonged to the Parthian culture. The Qum Darya bow is another such example, and had even more bone plates than the Yrzi bow. These bows have attracted considerable attention as their owners were blond haired, "Europoid" males wearing Chinese clothing, possibly making them foreign allies of the Chinese state. The Qum-Darya bows have also been linked to the so-called Hunnic bows. The type of bow was superseded in the modern area of Hungary by an 'Avar' type, which could have up to 12 laths, with asymmetrical limbs and a stiff, set-back handle. Examples measured in situ suggest bow lengths of . When unstrung, the siyahs reversed sharply forward at an angle of 50-60 degrees. ==Post-classical development==

miniature representing a man with a composite bow After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, armies of the Byzantine Empire maintained their tradition of horse archery for centuries. Byzantium finally fell to the Turks before the decline of military archery in favour of guns. Turkish armies included archers until about 1591 (they played a major role in the Battle of Lepanto (1571), and flight archery remained a popular sport in Istanbul until the early 19th century. Most surviving documentation of the use and construction of composite bows comes from China and the Middle East; until reforms early in the 20th century, skill with the composite bow was an essential part of the qualification for officers in the Chinese Imperial army. pirate holding a bow of the then-popular short Kipchak (Mamluk) design The composite bow was adopted throughout the Arab world, even though some Bedu tribesmen in the Hijaz retained the use of simple self bows. Fragments of bone laths from composite bows were found among grave goods in the United Arab Emirates dating from the period between 100 BCE and 150 CE. Integral wooden siyahs Later developments in the composite bow included siyahs made of separate pieces of wood, attached with a V-splice to the wooden core of the bow, rather than strengthened by external reinforcement. String bridges are not present in artwork in the time of Genghis Khan or before. ==Modern living traditions==

All Eurasian composite bows derive from the same nomad origins, but every culture that used them has made its own adaptations to the basic design. The Turkish, Mongolian, and Korean bows were standardized when archery lost its military function and became a popular sport. Recent Turkish bows are optimized for flight shooting. Perso-Parthian bows The Perso-Parthian bow is a symmetric recurve under high tension when strung. The "arms" of the bow are supposed to reflex far enough to cross each other when the bow is unstrung. The finished bow is covered by bark, fine leather, or in some cases shark skin to keep out moisture. One bow had a variable cross section, with some regions being ovoid, and others 'D-shaped'. The non-working siyahs had a circular cross section. The bow was reflexed and symmetrical, and its entire body was covered in black lacquer. Because the cultures associated with Chinese society spanned a wide geography and time range, the techniques and equipment associated with Chinese archery are diverse. Historical sources and archaeological evidence suggest that a variety of bow designs existed throughout Chinese history. For much of the 20th century, only a few Chinese traditional bow and arrow-making workshops were active. However, in the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a revival in interest among craftsmen looking to construct bows and arrows in the traditional Chinese style. Mongolian bows The Mongolian tradition of archery is attested by an inscription on a stone stele that was found near Nerchinsk in Siberia: "While Genghis Khan was holding an assembly of Mongolian dignitaries, after his conquest of Sartaul (Khwarezm), Yesüngge (the son of Genghis Khan's younger brother) shot a target at 335 alds (536 m)". The Mongol bowmaking tradition was lost under the Qing, who heavily restricted archery practice; only practice with blunt arrows at shorted distances was allowed while most other forms of practice, including mounted archery; was forbidden. The present bowmaking tradition emerged after independence in 1921 and is based on Manchu types of bow. Mounted archery had fallen into disuse and has been revived only in the 21st century. Archery with composite bows is part of the annual festival of the three virile sports (wrestling, horseriding, archery), called "Naadam". Hungarian bows The Hungarian bow is a fairly long, approximately symmetrical composite reflex bow with antler stiffeners. Its shape is known from archaeological finds. Modern Hungarians have attempted to reconstruct the composite bows of their ancestors and have revived mounted archery as a competitive sport. Korean bows A traditional Korean bow, or gakgung, is a small horn-bamboo-sinew composite bow. Japanese bows Japanese yumi are made by laminating multiple pieces of bamboo and wood. ==Native American bows==

Sinew-backed wood bows were common among Native Americans before European contact. An antler-wood-sinew composite bow, likely of Nakota provenance, is found at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. It consisted of a wooden core with several short 'keys' of antler imbedded on the belly side, and backed with sinew on the other. Sinew was typically applied to these bows without glue. To accomplish this, sinew was braided in to long, fine cables, suspended along the back of the bow, twisted repeatedly to induce tension, and secured with a series of knots. ==Replicas made with modern materials==

Modern replicas of traditional composite bows are commercially available; they are usually made with fibreglass or carbon on both belly and back, easier to mass-produce and easier to take care of than traditional composite bows. ==See also==